I love Apple. I bleed 6 colours. But... Apple has been stripping features away from iTunes for years. Does no-one remember the massive list of internet radio stations in iTunes? Because Airplay was so spotty for me, after years of trying to make it work (and seeing features stripped from that too), I finally bought two Sonos Ones. I knew that my entry into the Sonos world would spell the company's doom (I have that effect) but I have never been happier with a wireless audio system. I use my Sonos with TuneIn Radio on my iPhone and it's perfect. It's also built-in to the desktop app.
I'll probably get some Sonos Play:1 later to keep up with Airplay2.
The lack of native radio streaming is the only thing that’s stopping me recommending a Home Pod to my parents. They’re always impressed by the sound quality when they hear mine, and they like the idea of being able to put their old hifi, tapes and CDs into storage. But without the ability to say “play BBC Radio 2” and hear a live stream without the need for third party apps, clunky shortcuts or the need for their one and only iPhone to be nearby, is just a dealbreaker I’m afraid.
This is great William. I have been thinking about getting radio and vinyl on the HomePod. My early forays into Siri ShortCuts have been buggy and frustrating as well. My difficulties with radio have led to an embrace of PodCasts which are often great but I would love to listen to old school radio as well.
I also wish Apple would have a setting to tune the HomePod to news or talk to strip out the bass and improve comprehension.
I could not agree more. The need for a voice-controlled equalizer is massive IMHO. My hearing isn't what it used to be and a pair of HomePods is by far the best sounding audio system we have for our TV (compared to our pre-existing surround sound system or the TV's built-in amp/speakers). Yet I crave more control for different types of sound such as you suggest speech only. Plus greater volume at times. It would seem a no brainer to simply have the same EQ software on board HomePods that already exists in iTunes and add the ability to voice activate presets. I'd add one more plea from someone that is hard of hearing, those program makers that insist on adding background music to what would otherwise be mostly a spoken word broadcast, add it to a channel that can be controlled independently, even muted if required. They have no idea how impossible hearing speech over loud background music can be for many people.
This is a thing that seems to keep coming up. HomePod isn’t just a speaker. It actively measures the acoustics of the room and adjusts itself to compensate for deficiencies and to take advantage of anything beneficial. That’s why they sound so great.
Adding user-controlled EQ on top of that would defeat the purpose of the device. User adjustments can only detract from the sound quality.
In fact, it would probably lead to more than a few customers fiddling with the EQ until they’ve found the most suboptimal settings possible, and then returning it to the store because it doesn’t sound any better than a $20 off-brand Bluetooth speaker. If you think I’m wrong, next time you get into a rental car with a decent stereo, make note of the ridiculous EQ settings left by the last person. Inevitably the bass, or treble or everything is turned up to eleven, because people think ‘more is better.’
Put another way: asking for EQ controls on HomePod is like ordering the special at a fine restaurant and then asking for a bottle of ketchup.
This just in: Apple has created a speaker that is perfect. Unlike all of their other products, there are no bugs in the h/w or s/w. The self-tuning algorithm is similarly perfect, covering all conceivable rooms, playable material, ears, weather conditions, and ambient noise. Thank you, AppleZulu, for reminding us how silly this is in light of the fact that there’s never been a s/w update to HP.
This is great! I’ve been using my Echo Dot to stream radio stations via Alexa. Glad there’s finally an automated solution to do the same with my HomePod.
This needs to be much easier for Joe Public if the HomePod is to gain greater market penetration. This is a capability that purchasers, rightly or wrongly, will expect to be natively built in and available without any further configuration or installation.
This is great William. I have been thinking about getting radio and vinyl on the HomePod. My early forays into Siri ShortCuts have been buggy and frustrating as well. My difficulties with radio have led to an embrace of PodCasts which are often great but I would love to listen to old school radio as well.
I also wish Apple would have a setting to tune the HomePod to news or talk to strip out the bass and improve comprehension.
I could not agree more. The need for a voice-controlled equalizer is massive IMHO. My hearing isn't what it used to be and a pair of HomePods is by far the best sounding audio system we have for our TV (compared to our pre-existing surround sound system or the TV's built-in amp/speakers). Yet I crave more control for different types of sound such as you suggest speech only. Plus greater volume at times. It would seem a no brainer to simply have the same EQ software on board HomePods that already exists in iTunes and add the ability to voice activate presets. I'd add one more plea from someone that is hard of hearing, those program makers that insist on adding background music to what would otherwise be mostly a spoken word broadcast, add it to a channel that can be controlled independently, even muted if required. They have no idea how impossible hearing speech over loud background music can be for many people.
This is a thing that seems to keep coming up. HomePod isn’t just a speaker. It actively measures the acoustics of the room and adjusts itself to compensate for deficiencies and to take advantage of anything beneficial. That’s why they sound so great.
Adding user-controlled EQ on top of that would defeat the purpose of the device. User adjustments can only detract from the sound quality.
In fact, it would probably lead to more than a few customers fiddling with the EQ until they’ve found the most suboptimal settings possible, and then returning it to the store because it doesn’t sound any better than a $20 off-brand Bluetooth speaker. If you think I’m wrong, next time you get into a rental car with a decent stereo, make note of the ridiculous EQ settings left by the last person. Inevitably the bass, or treble or everything is turned up to eleven, because people think ‘more is better.’
Put another way: asking for EQ controls on HomePod is like ordering the special at a fine restaurant and then asking for a bottle of ketchup.
You totally missed the part about this request being for people with hearing disabilities otherwise I agree with you completely. I would like to be able to back off selected channels such as background music on broadcasts that are narrated. Your assumption that a sound mixing is a science rather than an art. Yes, the quality of the audio is amazing per se but the mix of tracks is purely a human decision. EQ can be used along with other mechanisms such as selective noise cancellation to correct for such things should the listener require certain frequencies reduced or enhanced or some audio channels muted. Your analogy is not totally valid, a person allergic to peanuts, for example, may require the expert chef to alter the recipe that seems superb to you and many others. In my case removing that toxic background music that makes hearing narration all but impossible whilst you won't even notice it (nor did I ten years ago).
EDIT: It occurs to me we could both be placated if the features I would like are in the accessibility section, kind of like closed captioning or large letters.
Good to know thanks for the article but this all seems overly complicated. Since I discovered I can just say to my HomePods "Hey Siri play radio station NPR' and hear the actual broadcast, not just the news I've been very happy ... and this is how it should be one would think, as in 'Hey Siri play radio station iHeart' etc..
I have to wonder if there are more 'radio stations' available just as NPR is. If not why not? If I say 'Hey Siri play radio station (many, many guesses)' she replies she 'can not make an app for that'. So I am guessing the issue is to do with ready-made podcasts that exist for NPR that seamlessly kick in when summoned and nothing else I've found has these. Any ideas on this?
NPR is a discrete content provider for Apple music, so is ESPN and a few others.
But you can also say things like “Hey Siri, play WWNO” (the local radio station in New Orleans) and the HP will play the station’s radio stream natively. Dunno if this requires an Apple Music subscription or not. But I have one, and my station has a radio stream as seen in iTunes, so it plays.
Good to know thanks for the article but this all seems overly complicated. Since I discovered I can just say to my HomePods "Hey Siri play radio station NPR' and hear the actual broadcast, not just the news I've been very happy ... and this is how it should be one would think, as in 'Hey Siri play radio station iHeart' etc..
I have to wonder if there are more 'radio stations' available just as NPR is. If not why not? If I say 'Hey Siri play radio station (many, many guesses)' she replies she 'can not make an app for that'. So I am guessing the issue is to do with ready-made podcasts that exist for NPR that seamlessly kick in when summoned and nothing else I've found has these. Any ideas on this?
NPR is a discrete content provider for Apple music, so is ESPN and a few others.
But you can also say things like “Hey Siri, play WWNO” (the local radio station in New Orleans) and the HP will play the station’s radio stream natively. Dunno if this requires an Apple Music subscription or not. But I have one, and my station has a radio stream as seen in iTunes, so it plays.
I wonder if these local stations are limited to geographic locations? I'll try that one after breakfast. I know they, in theory, shouldn't be but fascinating all the same. If not then there will be thousands of them. EDIT: WWNO gives the exact same result as saying Play radio station NPR so far, not sure if regional differences will kick in later, I assume they might as programming choices are presumably local.
Put another way: asking for EQ controls on HomePod is like ordering the special at a fine restaurant and then asking for a bottle of ketchup.
Put it another way: asking for EQ controls on the HomePod is like sending your Prime Rib dinner back because the chef cooked medium well, the way he thinks it should be served, instead of rare, the way I like it.
Many audiophiles and audio snobs believe EQ level settings are an anathema to true, good sound, i.e. the way the conductor/producer wanted it. So instead they spend money on expensive amps, preamps, interconnects, speakers, speaker spikes, room treatments blah blah blah...
For better or worse, users should have the ability to adjust audio to theirown liking. Sure some people thing turn the base to 11 and the treble to 0 is 'good' sound. I'm not them and I should be able to adjust EQ for those situations were 1) the HomePod can't cope and/or 2) I just don't like the sound profile that Apple has chosen, They already had one firmware update that changed that profile.
I'm not the only person who's complained of muddy mids and dull highs. I remember when Jobs introduced the iPod HiFi and said he tossed all his high-end stereo gear because the Hi-Fi sounded better. Huh? It had no highs. I think they spec'd it at 16kHz, but it got soft before that. It was good for what it was, but it wasn't an objective equivalent or replacement for 'high-end' kit.
The HomePod is pretty good for what it is, even if I think it's still underperforming for $300 (the new price). I'm not an audio snob, but the HomePod needs a little work in its spectral balance. EQ adjustments could help some, and I'd like to have them.
Even the best dish needs seasoning, and not everybody's taste is the same. I go to a 'fine' restaurant and don't like the food, I can send it back, leave, and/or remove a Michelin star.
But if I'm getting takeaway, I certainly can say how it needs to taste.
You don't have to go to a restaurant that serves food you don't like, and you don't have to buy a HomePod. The HomePod is a very specific device, and its acoustic measurement and self-adjustment features represents the sort of technology not previously available anywhere near its price point. That feature is integral to what HomePod is, and it's not in Apple's nature to create a device with a unique feature like that and then turn around and enable users to manually defeat it.
As with every other Apple product, HomePod is not trying to be all things to all people. If what it's designed to do isn't what you want, there are likely other products on the market that are. Maybe. Apple doesn't make macOS available for non-Apple hardware. You can't buy iOS apps from third-party app stores, and there are no SD card readers in iPads. MacBook Pros are not touchscreen devices, and you can't run macOS on an iPad. People on this forum and elsewhere have asked for Apple to do all those things, but they're barking up the wrong tree. Apple designs and makes things to function a certain way, and limitations on user customization have always been part of their business model. If those limitations select you out, there are other companies that make things that can be endlessly customized. They're just not Apple. That endless customization is actually specifically why those competitors' devices are just not Apple.
P.S. If you go to a 'fine' restaurant and don't like the food, you can indeed send it back or leave, but unless you're a reviewer employed by Michelin, you don't have the ability to remove a star. If you are a reviewer employed by Michelin, you're not going to be squirting ketchup all over the chef's special, because you'd know that makes it no longer the chef's special and it would be unethical to ruin it -I mean customize it- and then review it.
Good to know thanks for the article but this all seems overly complicated. Since I discovered I can just say to my HomePods "Hey Siri play radio station NPR' and hear the actual broadcast, not just the news I've been very happy ... and this is how it should be one would think, as in 'Hey Siri play radio station iHeart' etc..
I have to wonder if there are more 'radio stations' available just as NPR is. If not why not? If I say 'Hey Siri play radio station (many, many guesses)' she replies she 'can not make an app for that'. So I am guessing the issue is to do with ready-made podcasts that exist for NPR that seamlessly kick in when summoned and nothing else I've found has these. Any ideas on this?
NPR is a discrete content provider for Apple music, so is ESPN and a few others.
But you can also say things like “Hey Siri, play WWNO” (the local radio station in New Orleans) and the HP will play the station’s radio stream natively. Dunno if this requires an Apple Music subscription or not. But I have one, and my station has a radio stream as seen in iTunes, so it plays.
I wonder if these local stations are limited to geographic locations? I'll try that one after breakfast. I know they, in theory, shouldn't be but fascinating all the same. If not then there will be thousands of them. EDIT: WWNO gives the exact same result as saying Play radio station NPR so far, not sure if regional differences will kick in later, I assume they might as programming choices are presumably local.
Could be regional, or an assortment of other factors. I tried WWNO and got nothing. My local channels didn't play either. Good spot, though, we'll see what we can deduce about it.
Good to know thanks for the article but this all seems overly complicated. Since I discovered I can just say to my HomePods "Hey Siri play radio station NPR' and hear the actual broadcast, not just the news I've been very happy ... and this is how it should be one would think, as in 'Hey Siri play radio station iHeart' etc..
I have to wonder if there are more 'radio stations' available just as NPR is. If not why not? If I say 'Hey Siri play radio station (many, many guesses)' she replies she 'can not make an app for that'. So I am guessing the issue is to do with ready-made podcasts that exist for NPR that seamlessly kick in when summoned and nothing else I've found has these. Any ideas on this?
NPR is a discrete content provider for Apple music, so is ESPN and a few others.
But you can also say things like “Hey Siri, play WWNO” (the local radio station in New Orleans) and the HP will play the station’s radio stream natively. Dunno if this requires an Apple Music subscription or not. But I have one, and my station has a radio stream as seen in iTunes, so it plays.
I wonder if these local stations are limited to geographic locations? I'll try that one after breakfast. I know they, in theory, shouldn't be but fascinating all the same. If not then there will be thousands of them. EDIT: WWNO gives the exact same result as saying Play radio station NPR so far, not sure if regional differences will kick in later, I assume they might as programming choices are presumably local.
Could be regional, or an assortment of other factors. I tried WWNO and got nothing. My local channels didn't play either. Good spot, though, we'll see what we can deduce about it.
In my experience, it uses location services to default to your local NPR affiliate. I can also get it to play affiliates from other places, too, however. Sometimes it will get flummoxed when I use a station's call letters, but "Hey Siri, play [insert city name here] public radio" will usually work. When it's "pledge drive week" at the local station, I try to do my part by going online and making a donation to the local station and then tune into affiliates from somewhere else until the attempts at banter have stopped.
Thanks for this., but I'm having a problem using the TuneIn Radio Shortcut., When I want to play my radio station on my HomePod the HomePod says something like "You'll have to continue on your phone". I have to unlock the phone for the shortcut to work. Any way to avoid having to find my phone in order to get the HomePod to respond to the shortcut?
Comments
I'll probably get some Sonos Play:1 later to keep up with Airplay2.
They’re always impressed by the sound quality when they hear mine, and they like the idea of being able to put their old hifi, tapes and CDs into storage. But without the ability to say “play BBC Radio 2” and hear a live stream without the need for third party apps, clunky shortcuts or the need for their one and only iPhone to be nearby, is just a dealbreaker I’m afraid.
EDIT: It occurs to me we could both be placated if the features I would like are in the accessibility section, kind of like closed captioning or large letters.
As with every other Apple product, HomePod is not trying to be all things to all people. If what it's designed to do isn't what you want, there are likely other products on the market that are. Maybe. Apple doesn't make macOS available for non-Apple hardware. You can't buy iOS apps from third-party app stores, and there are no SD card readers in iPads. MacBook Pros are not touchscreen devices, and you can't run macOS on an iPad. People on this forum and elsewhere have asked for Apple to do all those things, but they're barking up the wrong tree. Apple designs and makes things to function a certain way, and limitations on user customization have always been part of their business model. If those limitations select you out, there are other companies that make things that can be endlessly customized. They're just not Apple. That endless customization is actually specifically why those competitors' devices are just not Apple.
P.S. If you go to a 'fine' restaurant and don't like the food, you can indeed send it back or leave, but unless you're a reviewer employed by Michelin, you don't have the ability to remove a star. If you are a reviewer employed by Michelin, you're not going to be squirting ketchup all over the chef's special, because you'd know that makes it no longer the chef's special and it would be unethical to ruin it -I mean customize it- and then review it.